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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

"Iran has introduced new biometric national identity cards that observers believe can be used to indentify dissident easier than before. The card which can be used for internet usage, is considered a new measure to control, limit, and identify internet users and dissident cyber activists.

The Iranian government has been up front with its efforts to control and filter internet usage. The new Iranian national identity card is currently being tested in the city of Qum but the nationwide release will start next year, for an estimated 62 million Iranians, says a Iranian official who was involved in the development process. Iranian new year will start March 21, marking the beginning of spring.

The national card will record all biometric and personal information of the person in addition to fingerprints."

NSTIC, FICAM and other digital federated ID projects make a meal out of you Perhaps by overstating the obvious it might mirror exactly how obnoxious it is to hear the Dept. of Commerce’s privacy apologists tell us how “okay” it will be if we just allow them to decide what’s private and endorse federated ID for the Net along with them.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

As Hernandez v. John Jay High School approaches federal courts and news goes national, more students face privacy and identity straits at schools across the US

Andrea Hernandez sans RFID c/o CBN News

Over Thanksgiving week, the story of a 15 year old High School student in San Antonio retained national attention as the new portrait of community resistance to identity tech requirements adopted by school administrators. With good reason, news is continually evolving about the plight of students across America who are coming to grips with standardised location surveillance by scholastic institutions.

In the case of Andrea Hernandez, the student’s decision to opt out of a Smart ID card badge is coming to loggerheads with the school system. The court conflict orbits the minor’s right to basic location privacy and 1st Amendment rights with her belief system and the schools technology of choice to record attendance in the Student Locator Project. Her case was moved from Texas state courts to a federal court by judges just prior to a local hearing taking place today. It is a move which seems to favor John Jay High School and the NISD, the school district administrators who comissioned the controversial program according to lawyers at The Rutherford Institute.

"I think it’s unfortunate that these school officials are determined to continue to violate Andrea Hernandez’ constitutional rights, but their actions clearly show that what is motivating them has little to do with their students’ best interests and everything to do with fattening their coffers,” says John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. If Hernandez does not win her case, it would be both a tragedy and a statistic for privacy and 1st Amendment speech as Smart cards and biometric requirements are impacting more student populations across America than ever before.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Attorneys for the Rutherford Institute will appear before the Bexar County District Court on November 28, 2012 at 9AM CST in favor of a preliminary injunction against John Jay High School to stop them from expelling San Antonio high school student, Andrea Hernandez for refusing participation in the school district’s new “Student Locator Project.”

Rutherford attorneys filed a petition for a temporary restraining order and immediate injunctive and declaratory relief in Hernandez's defense, . [The document] alleges the school’s actions violate Andrea’s rights under Texas’ Religious Freedom Act and the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Last week, District Court Judge Solomon Casseb granted The Rutherford Institute’s request for a temporary restraining order in the case.